[0:00] Being of the Board of Directors for the

[0:02] Grateful Fire Protection District order, please stand

[0:04] for the Pledge of Ligi I

[0:09] Pgi to flag of the United States of America

[0:13] and to the republic for which stands?

[0:15] One Nation under God, individual liberty and justice.

[0:21] Please remain standing for a moment of silent reflection.

[0:29] Thank you. May be seated.

[0:35] Okay, roll call Adrian.

[0:38] Here, Patty. Here. Paige

[0:42] Here.

[0:44] And Dick is not here yet. Hold please. He is. He is.

[0:46] Oh, he is walking through the door. He made it.

[0:49] So Dick is here.

[0:51] Move your chair. John. And Alan's here.

[0:55] All right. Hello sir.

[0:58] Hello. So we have a full board tonight.

[1:03] You know, when make the grand entrance. Cody,

[1:11] talk to my chauffeur.

[1:16] He was born and raised in Aspen

[1:18] and you'd never show up on time in Aspen.

[1:27] I apologize for being late. Thank you.

[1:30] We're glad you're Here. We're glad you're here. Dick.

[1:35] You got it? We have an audience.

[1:40] When does church service start?

[1:44] Okay, we'll go on

[1:46] to the next item is the identify participants

[1:49] in the conference call.

[1:51] John.

[1:53] Okay. We have Bill Smith,

[1:58] Dino Ross, Eric Davis, Jonathan Baker,

[2:02] Kevin Alvy, Paige.

[2:06] We've got Paige. That's it.

[2:08] Okay, thanks. John. Do you have any additions?

[2:11] Relations to agenda Chief?

[2:12] None. Okay.

[2:15] Go on to item one, consent agenda.

[2:19] This consists of item a minutes of July 8th, 2026,

[2:22] special meeting B, minutes of August 11th, 2026,

[2:25] regular board meeting, August, 2026, financial reports

[2:30] D August, 2026, accounts payable reports

[2:32] and E August, 2026, Lexipol policy review.

[2:36] Would anybody like to pull anything for further discussion?

[2:41] Not hearing. Anybody want to entertain a motion

[2:44] to pass the agenda?

[2:47] Consider agenda as presented. I'll

[2:49] Make a motion to pass the consent agenda. Second.

[2:51] Okay. Motion for Maddy and second from Asia.

[2:54] Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.

[3:00] You're on page.

[3:05] Okay, we're good? Yep. Aye. Okay. Thank you.

[3:10] All right. Item am two on the agenda as public comment.

[3:13] If anybody would like to speak, this is time to do it.

[3:15] You have three minutes. Oh,

[3:19] we actually got an audio tonight.

[3:20] Nobody wants to speak. Okay, we'll go on then

[3:25] to item three.

[3:26] This is a badge. Presentation is all introduced.

[3:28] Yes. Packet for that.

[3:30] Thank you. So doing things a little different here in

[3:35] a badge ceremony to try to get

[3:39] some people badged up.

[3:41] And so tonight I appreciate everybody being here

[3:45] and welcome everybody.

[3:47] And we get the privilege of formally

[3:50] recognizing four members who have already been serving

[3:53] our organization and our communities in

[3:56] their respective positions.

[3:58] Lieutenant Mac McKowski engineer Robert Fields

[4:01] and firefighter paramedics, Joseph Billings and Dasha Stowe.

[4:06] So the badge is being Pite Bear.

[4:09] One of the fire services most during, during symbols,

[4:12] the Maltese cross its history is, is

[4:17] rich and traced back to the, the Knights of St.

[4:20] John who risks their lives rescuing others from fire.

[4:24] And over time, the Maltese cross has become associated

[4:27] with courage, sacrifice, protection, and service.

[4:32] And today it reminds us of the trust that comes

[4:35] with wearing the badge and our responsibility

[4:37] to answer when others are in need.

[4:40] Although tonight's ceremony formally

[4:43] recognizes these positions, it does not mark the beginning

[4:46] of their service for what they've been doing.

[4:49] Each of these individuals has already been carrying

[4:52] the responsibility of their roles

[4:53] and demonstrating their commitment to CRFR

[4:55] and our district citizens and the communities that we serve.

[4:59] Lieutenant McKowski has accepted the responsibility

[5:02] of leading crews, making critical decisions as expected

[5:06] of a company officer.

[5:08] Engineer Fields has served in a position that

[5:11] demands technical knowledge, sound judgment,

[5:14] and responsibility of safely getting our personnel

[5:17] where they need to be for an emergency.

[5:19] And firefighter paramedic Billings and

[5:21] and Stowe serve their roles, require their roles of

[5:28] technical knowledge, clinical judgment,

[5:30] compassion and composure.

[5:32] And each of these positions plays an integral role

[5:35] in CRFR success.

[5:37] So tonight's badge pinning is an opportunity

[5:41] to honor the work that they have already performed, the

[5:44] responsibilities they have accepted

[5:46] and the trust they have earned.

[5:48] These badges represent more than ranks or title

[5:52] and they symbolize service, accountability, leadership,

[5:55] and commitment to the mission and values of CRFR.

[5:58] So on behalf of CRFR, congratulations

[6:01] to L Lieutenant Matt McKowski, engineer Robert Fields,

[6:04] firefighter paramedic, Joseph Billings

[6:06] and firefighter paramedic Asha Stoke.

[6:09] May you continue to wear these badges with pride.

[6:11] So as we come up tonight, bring whoever's pinning you up

[6:15] with you and we'll give you the badge

[6:17] and we will pin you, run you through the oath of office.

[6:20] So Lieutenant Mackey,

[6:39] All right, Raise your right hand.

[6:41] Repeat after me. I state your name.

[6:43] I'm Matthew Kowski

[6:45] Will faithfully support the Constitution

[6:47] of the United States, will faithfully

[6:48] Support the Constitution of the United States

[6:50] And of the state of Colorado, and of

[6:53] The state of Colorado.

[6:54] And the laws may pursuant thereto

[6:56] And the laws may pursuant thereto

[6:59] And will faithfully perform the duties and

[7:01] Will faithfully perform the

[7:02] Duties as lieutenant as Lieutenant

[7:05] of Colorado River Fire Protection District as

[7:07] Colorado of Colorado Fire Protection Protection District.

[7:11] Congratulations.

[7:37] Phone looks so nervous.

[8:22] That's all

[8:26] Robert.

[8:27] Robert Fields,

[8:33] who gets the

[8:35] One two together?

[8:38] Sorry about the other.

[8:41] Raise your name, repeat after me. I state your name.

[8:44] I Albert Fields will faithfully support the Constitution

[8:47] of the United States will faithfully support

[8:49] The Constitution of the United States

[8:50] and of the state of Colorado, and of the state of Colorado.

[8:53] And the laws may pursuant there too, and laws pursuant

[8:57] and will faithfully perform the duties

[9:00] and will faithfully perform the duties as an engineer

[9:02] of Sorry.

[9:04] Go ahead. As engineer of Colorado River Fire

[9:06] Protection District of Colorado River Fire

[9:08] Protection

[9:43] Joe Billings,

[9:59] Raise your right hand.

[10:02] Iye State, your name I Mr.

[10:03] Bowies will faithfully support the Constitution

[10:06] of the United States faithfully.

[10:07] Support the Constitution of the United States

[10:09] and of the state of Colorado, and of the state of Colorado.

[10:12] And the laws made pursuant thereto

[10:14] and the laws made pursuant thereto

[10:16] and will faithfully perform the duties

[10:18] and will faithfully perform the duties

[10:20] as firefighter paramedic.

[10:21] As firefighter paramedic

[10:23] of the Colorado River Fire Protection District

[10:25] of Colorado River Fire Protection District.

[10:40] Thanks

[11:01] Asha.

[11:15] Okay, stand up your head please.

[11:19] Alright. Your hand. I state your name.

[11:22] I, Josh Stone Will faithfully support the Constitution

[11:25] of the United States will

[11:26] Faithfully support the constitution of the United States

[11:29] And of the state of Colorado,

[11:31] And of the state of Colorado.

[11:33] And the laws may pursuant there too.

[11:35] And the laws may pursuant there

[11:36] Too.

[11:37] And will faithfully perform the duties and will

[11:39] Faithfully perform the duties

[11:41] As firefighter paramedic. As

[11:42] Firefighter paramedic Of the

[11:44] Colorado River Fire Protection

[11:45] District of Colorado River Fire Protection District.

[12:27] Before we let y'all go, I'd like to stand up

[12:29] and have all of you come by

[12:31] and shake hands with the four fleets.

[12:33] I think it's so important that we recognize

[12:35] the great people.

[12:36] We have

[12:38] 100%.

[12:40] Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations.

[12:44] Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations.

[12:49] Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you.

[12:53] Good job guys.

[13:02] Thank you for being here. We're not gonna make you stay

[13:04] to the other boring parts of this.

[13:05] If you want to go, certainly welcome.

[13:06] You're welcome to stay. If you want to go, you can go.

[13:10] I think you should make them stay. They got a gift.

[13:14] They can stay. They're doing a good job.

[13:16] We shouldn't torture 'em now.

[13:18] Thank you everybody. Appreciate

[13:19] Guys, thank you.

[13:21] Thank you for the board of directors.

[13:25] Think It's letting

[13:27] Yeah.

[13:28] And let's, let's do it some more.

[13:29] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

[13:34] Okay. Presentation over.

[13:36] We're gonna go with item five or four on the agenda.

[13:38] Legal counsel updates. That's you, Dino?

[13:43] Yes sir. Being miss me And Mr.

[13:45] Chairman, the only thing that I believe

[13:48] that we've been working with chief staff on is the Lexi

[13:52] called Flexible policies that board approved.

[13:57] And that was Michelle and our Associate Attorney hearing.

[14:02] Other than that, we really haven't had much going on,

[14:05] which is a good thing.

[14:07] Same. We're not the legislative session yet,

[14:10] so everything's good for my,

[14:17] Any questions for Dino?

[14:21] Nope. Okay. Seeing none, Dino. Thank you.

[14:27] Okay, fire chief report item five.

[14:29] So I am opening it up

[14:31] because I didn't actually get one into this board packet

[14:34] because I was gone for that.

[14:37] So I apologize for not having a board report in this board.

[14:41] Packet was able to take some time off

[14:46] and that's where I was at for my wife

[14:48] and i's 25th wedding anniversary.

[14:50] That's why it didn't get one.

[14:52] And tonight's board packet, you have new business items

[14:55] of review and approve the 2027 budget calendar

[14:58] and appoint director Tillman as the budget officer.

[15:02] Review current EMS rates and pro projections.

[15:05] When we go over that it,

[15:07] I think we last raised him in 2022 going into 2023.

[15:10] And we wanna make sure that we keep that in the forefront

[15:12] of, is it something we want to look at so we don't have

[15:15] to do big raises all the time

[15:17] or big raises when we do do them.

[15:22] And then three, review various vendors

[15:24] for financial software.

[15:25] This is just introducing to the board.

[15:27] We're not gonna ask any, any action items for, for that.

[15:31] Just to introduce the board to it.

[15:32] I know we talked about it a little bit at the last month

[15:34] board meeting and John will go a little more in depth.

[15:36] And then we have old business item include review

[15:39] of station 61 progress report.

[15:43] So last, the last week of August,

[15:45] CRFR received our valuations for 2027

[15:48] and I was actually expecting them to be lower than

[15:51] where we were going into 2026.

[15:54] I was actually pleasantly surprised

[15:56] to see it slightly above where we're at.

[15:58] We'll call it level because

[16:00] that's essentially where we're at.

[16:01] But when you look at what we had to get back for credits

[16:03] and everything like that last year, we're not gonna have

[16:06] to do that again going into 2027.

[16:08] So for overall, I'm, I'm pleasantly surprised to see

[16:11] where we were at with our valuations

[16:14] and we look forward to presenting the first budget

[16:19] to the board of directors at next month's board meeting.

[16:23] And then the next one is, is is a hard one

[16:27] for all of the organization.

[16:29] I don't know if you have all heard yet or not,

[16:31] but Chief Carroll took a promotional opportunity

[16:35] for a division chief of training with Aspen Fire

[16:39] and effective September 11th this week she will

[16:44] no longer be with CRFR and that leaves a big hole with CRFR

[16:47] and, and we're sad to see her go,

[16:50] but we're also excited for her

[16:52] to take a promotional opportunity with Aspen Fire

[16:55] and build their training division up

[16:57] because it's a new position

[16:59] that they've never had within their department.

[17:02] And so I think Chief Carroll's success reflects her

[17:05] dedication, her leadership,

[17:06] and her commitment to the fire service.

[17:08] And it also speaks highly of all the CFR line personnel

[17:12] who have worked alongside her and shared knowledge with her

[17:15] and mentored her or prepared her for this next chapter.

[17:18] So although we're sad to see her go

[17:21] and we are working on filling the hole, we're also proud

[17:23] to see the success that she has

[17:25] and wish her the best in her new experience.

[17:29] Moving to Aspen Fire,

[17:31] Seems like we have quite a few relationships

[17:33] with Aspen Fire somehow

[17:36] We, we do.

[17:37] Yes. It's a small,

[17:38] it's a small world in the fire service for sure.

[17:41] And then in, in closing, I'm appreciative

[17:44] of memberships all in attitude

[17:45] and work ethic to responses training

[17:47] and the betterment of CRFR.

[17:50] Questions for me?

[17:52] Any questions for chief? Thank you Chief.

[17:56] They're just getting even for taking me, bringing me

[17:58] Down here.

[18:02] There you go. I don't

[18:07] know who's more honor you or Dick,

[18:08] but

[18:13] Okay, we're going on to item six.

[18:15] New business five items.

[18:16] We're gonna go to item 8 1 27, budget planning

[18:21] and preparation, which includes appointment

[18:23] of administrative director chairman to the 2027 budget

[18:28] budget officer and review

[18:30] of the 2027 budget planning calendar.

[18:33] So this is part of our budgeting process every year,

[18:36] develop a budgeting calendar.

[18:38] PJ has done that and it's presented right here to you.

[18:42] And then we also adopt PJ as our budget director

[18:46] Or we can appoint chief.

[18:50] I was gonna ask like do you, do you accept,

[18:52] Do you really want that?

[18:54] Don't accept like, can I turn it down?

[18:59] She doesn't want that because she still end up doing it

[19:01] because I have it all wrong.

[19:03] Can we do both the appointment of administrator

[19:05] and approve the budget plan calendar in both in one motion

[19:10] or is it a few separate motions,

[19:12] Do you know?

[19:16] I take 'em in separate motions

[19:17] 'cause they go to different things.

[19:19] Okay. So who wants to appoint

[19:23] Director Tillman as a budget officer? 2027

[19:27] I appoint.

[19:29] Okay, I see Dick Beaches. Okay.

[19:33] Okay. We have a motion by Dick, a second by Adrian.

[19:36] Any further discussion? All in favor?

[19:39] Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you page.

[19:43] Okay, motion passes unanimously. Congratulations.

[19:48] Thank you. You're welcome. Are you excited? Super excited.

[19:55] Okay. Next item is to approve the budget calendar

[19:59] or any discussion on that.

[20:04] Entertain a motion to,

[20:05] we approve the clutch calendar as presented.

[20:06] Yep. That would be great if we could do that.

[20:08] Make sure I had some 2026 dates

[20:11] and not 2025 and

[20:14] Somebody wants to make that motion

[20:16] 10 times.

[20:18] Oh yes. I'll make a motion to accept the second.

[20:21] Okay. Motion for mad a second from Dick.

[20:24] Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye.

[20:30] Aye. Okay. Motion passes. You Unanim plea.

[20:35] Thank you pj. We're looking forward to all the stuff.

[20:38] You're gonna bless this but coming down the pike here

[20:41] And then we have elections next year.

[20:43] Good news. Oh great.

[20:47] Okay. Okay, go on to item

[20:51] B, review and discussion.

[20:52] Current EMS rates and projections.

[20:55] Is that you chief or is that okay?

[21:00] I mean, chief wants to take it.

[21:03] He's The, he knows this.

[21:05] So like chief said it, it's been going into 20, at the end

[21:10] of 2022, going into 2023 is the last time we kind

[21:13] of revisited this ambulance fee schedule.

[21:15] And so we just kind of wanted to put it back on the radar,

[21:18] look where we're at with everything and,

[21:19] and kind of evaluate is it time to

[21:22] do another fee increase for that?

[21:24] And so I printed you guys out, kind of a lot

[21:27] of different data that I was looking at to kind

[21:30] of help make some of these determinations with that.

[21:33] So I'll kind of walk you guys through that very top table.

[21:37] So that's just kind of our ambulance cost

[21:39] versus revenue analysis.

[21:40] So MTS cost, that's our medical transport service cost.

[21:44] And so that is the number that we submit

[21:46] to the Medicaid supplemental billing process every year.

[21:51] And so that number is actually audited through the state

[21:53] through that process saying, yep, that's what it costs to

[21:58] operate your medical transport service organization.

[22:02] So that separates out what is just from the fire side.

[22:06] But isn't the SRP just Colorado Medicaid?

[22:09] Yep. Medicaid But so we have not, I mean Medicaid

[22:13] outside of Colorado, if we have visitors sometimes.

[22:15] Right. So is that this is just the number

[22:16] for Colorado Medicaid. Oh,

[22:18] Well, so the MTS cost looks at our entire

[22:21] operating cost for, so not

[22:22] Just SRP?

[22:23] Yep. Okay. Overall cost.

[22:27] And, and there is a little bit of discrepancy in there

[22:30] because the MTS costs look at a fiscal year of,

[22:35] was it July to the end of June for that versus all

[22:38] of our data is a calendar year.

[22:40] So there is a little bit of, of discrepancy in that,

[22:45] but, but overall, just something for the board to be aware

[22:47] of when we look at transports over the past three years,

[22:49] we've actually been really level on our overall transports.

[22:53] Yeah. With that.

[22:55] Does that, I'm sorry, that line concludes the base

[22:57] level plus the mileage.

[23:00] 12 76, 12 79, 12 80. Where, where at?

[23:04] You said transport's the cost of

[23:05] Transport?

[23:06] Nope. Nope. So that's, that's our total transport.

[23:07] That's the number of transport, number of

[23:09] Transports number.

[23:10] Okay. That's why there's no dollar sign there. Yep.

[23:11] So that's the number of transport.

[23:12] So we're really within four transports over a three year

[23:16] period, which is kind of uncanny when you look at it.

[23:18] Yeah, that, that number right below there,

[23:21] that's the calculated cost of our transports.

[23:24] When we look at that. So you can see in 2023

[23:28] we're about 4,400 in the past two years that we've seen

[23:31] that climb about a thousand dollars each each year.

[23:34] And that goes back and it kind of correlates to

[23:36] that MTS costs since 2023 to 2025.

[23:38] That's about a 50% increase in our operating costs of

[23:41] that MTS program

[23:43] overall ordinary collections.

[23:46] So that, that's just what we collected that year

[23:49] for the services that we rendered

[23:51] through our normal billing processes.

[23:53] And then right below that collections per transport,

[23:55] that's just averaging out what we did as far as on average

[24:00] of those a hundred and

[24:02] or 1,280 transports, when we do all the math,

[24:06] that's about $546 per transport.

[24:10] I I will say one of the interesting things

[24:12] that we did see when we were doing this analysis is in 2025

[24:15] was the year that we switched up our CQI process

[24:18] and started outsourcing that.

[24:20] And between 2024

[24:21] and 2025, we did see

[24:23] a fairly significant jump in our EMS revenue.

[24:26] And so that as an indicator that that CQI process is helping

[24:31] with our cost recovery efforts on that.

[24:34] So that was kind of an interesting thing

[24:35] to look at when we pulled out the data on that

[24:38] supplemental payments, you can see those have kind

[24:40] of steadily increased.

[24:41] We just got our numbers from last week

[24:43] and that was $412,000.

[24:45] So that was about 300 or about a hundred thousand dollars

[24:48] more than what we actually budgeted this year.

[24:50] So that was a nice surprise with that.

[24:52] And then our total transport revenue costs

[24:56] over those three years, when we look at that overall,

[24:59] so when we look at our total cost recovery just from our

[25:01] billing process of what we bill

[25:03] and receive from Medicare, Medicaid, commercial insurance,

[25:07] private payers, all of that,

[25:09] we're recuperating about 13.1% in 2025.

[25:12] So you can see that's kind of slowly gone down from about

[25:14] 16% to 13.5 to 13%.

[25:19] If we think back at

[25:21] to 2022 when we were looking at this methodology,

[25:24] and one of the things that kind of threw a wrench in my

[25:25] planning is in 2022 we were really using methodology of,

[25:28] hey, if we could collect 20%

[25:30] of those MTS costs, what would that look like?

[25:33] Looking at these numbers and this data, it's not realistic

[25:36] to target a specific MTS data number for us.

[25:41] Which kind of jumps us down back into the,

[25:43] the pie chart there that that's our pay or breakdown.

[25:47] So

[25:48] Is there any, anything that says why these payment

[25:50] revenues are going down? Is there any,

[25:54] So the, the, the payment revenue has been pretty steady

[25:58] and and slowly increasing.

[26:00] It's just the cost of doing doing business

[26:02] has increased those substantially.

[26:03] What, what's, you know, you look at the, your amount

[26:05] of transports have been pretty much the same every year,

[26:08] but your, your cost overall substantial Yep.

[26:12] Up each year. Yeah.

[26:13] Insurance reimbursement doesn't

[26:15] look at cost of inflation though.

[26:16] And they haven't changed their reimbursements so long.

[26:19] Yeah. They were trying to take 'em away for our,

[26:21] our rural like add-ons and

[26:24] Yeah, all the rural add-ons.

[26:28] So the kind of the kind of why while the,

[26:31] the 20% MTS it sounds good in my head and on paper

[26:35] and all of that stuff, but when we look at this pie chart,

[26:38] 71% of our payer source is Medicare, Medicaid

[26:42] and their various different programs that we do with that.

[26:46] And so when we look at that, that's a fixed price.

[26:48] It doesn't matter what we set our rates at, that's

[26:50] what the government is gonna pay us for that 22%

[26:53] of our revenue from that is commercial insurance.

[26:55] And that's really where we see the impact from any potential

[26:58] rate increase on that.

[26:59] So that's why for me, if, if we wanted to try

[27:03] to target 20% MTS, it would just, we would have astronomical

[27:06] billing rates that, that we would have have to pursue.

[27:10] And it would be pretty impartial

[27:12] to anything that we're looking at.

[27:15] If we go back down that the, the table below the pie chart,

[27:19] you can see what our current rates are at,

[27:21] what would it would look like if we did a 20%, a 30%

[27:24] and a 40% increase.

[27:26] We use the same methodology that Medicare and Medicaid use

[27:29] and the same methodology that we used as far

[27:31] as differentiating how much of an increase

[27:34] between B-L-S-A-L-S-A-L-S two, all that kind of stuff.

[27:37] And then calculating the mileage, figuring out

[27:40] what the BLS rate is.

[27:41] And then it's about a 19% increase for a LSA 71% increase

[27:46] for a LS two and and so on and so forth.

[27:48] About 2% of that is mileage when we look at that.

[27:52] So that kind of gives the board a little bit of an idea

[27:56] of some rough estimates of where all of this would be.

[27:58] So if we did a 20% increase,

[28:00] we'd see potentially about a $33,000 increase in revenue.

[28:04] Nothing significant or nothing substantial.

[28:07] And none of these numbers are, are gonna pro produce

[28:09] that even if we go to a 40% increase, excuse me,

[28:12] we're looking at about $64,000 in

[28:16] potential increased revenue.

[28:18] And at the end of the day, like chief said,

[28:20] I think it's something that, that we want

[28:21] to keep on the, on the radar.

[28:23] We don't want to do giant increases.

[28:25] All of this money does add up at the end of the day

[28:27] after two or three years of, you know, even if it's

[28:31] extra $50,000 over a couple of years, that

[28:34] that does add up with that.

[28:36] And then the other thing that I, I'd like to ask the board

[28:40] to, to consider as we move forward with this in the,

[28:43] in the coming months is looking at, so every year

[28:47] Medicare does an ambulance inflation factor with that.

[28:49] They look at the inflation rates

[28:51] and adjust their Medicare rates accordingly.

[28:54] One of my thoughts is, so we don't have to revisit this

[28:57] as frequently is when those Medicare

[29:00] inflation factor ambulance inflation factors come out,

[29:03] is it possible to just automatically increase our rates by

[29:07] that same percentage to at least adjust for some of

[29:10] that inflation and whatnot?

[29:16] So with that, I'll open it up to some questions for

[29:19] that you guys have and see what, see what I can field and,

[29:22] And be before just ano ano you

[29:24] that question you asked about,

[29:26] about the revenues we receiving when we did this last time.

[29:30] It initially our pay rate was about a 60 40 split

[29:34] of the Medicare and now as we're about 70 30.

[29:38] And so that also is part

[29:40] of those reasons you're not seeing those revenues go up like

[29:43] they are Alan because we're only getting a certain amount

[29:45] of money from those Medicare Medicaid.

[29:47] And so as as that split goes up, we'll see that as well.

[29:52] What's your recommendation as far as the increase what,

[29:54] what staff like to see?

[29:57] You know, I think, well,

[29:59] well when we talk about percentages, it seems a lot.

[30:02] I think that 30% increase is, is reasonable with

[30:06] what we're seeing and and experiencing.

[30:11] We've been at the 40%, it's only gonna recoup 20 bucks.

[30:15] We do 1,280 calls next this year. It's 20 bucks per call.

[30:18] Yeah. But part

[30:20] of the increase isn't just like our recovery.

[30:22] It is developing

[30:23] and kind of continuing to, you know,

[30:25] inform the federal government despite their lack

[30:28] of like paying attention that the cost of doing business

[30:31] that is going up 8.4 million now for the same number

[30:33] of calls is going up.

[30:34] So if we don't raise our rates

[30:36] and we are like, oh, well CRF is still doing it for,

[30:38] you know, less than $1,100 for a BLS call, they,

[30:42] they don't see any need to do that.

[30:43] Right. So there is some, I think

[30:45] that 30% is reasonable even though it's

[30:47] nominal like revenue.

[30:49] Yeah. Yeah. And, and not that this factors into anything.

[30:54] The legislation that was passed

[30:56] through the house in the state senate last year

[30:58] and then vetoed by Governor Polis, the,

[31:00] the no surprise billing act for EMS in that bill,

[31:04] they did put a cap of insurance would be required to pay up

[31:08] to 325% of the Medicare costs.

[31:10] And when I do those calculations,

[31:13] that would be a 56% increase in, in our fees to get

[31:16] to 325% of the medi Medicare costs.

[31:24] We making this decision tonight or is it

[31:26] No, No, we're just, we're just bringing it

[31:28] to the board for discussion.

[31:30] Okay. And then e probably in November we'll come

[31:33] to you with a decision.

[31:36] The MTS recovery at the bottom.

[31:41] You got your fingers crossed under the price.

[31:44] Yeah. I mean 'cause that, 'cause

[31:45] that's the other thing is is I believe Medicaid, the state

[31:48] of Colorado Medicaid, they decreased all payments

[31:50] by 2% this year.

[31:52] So, we'll we'll see another, again,

[31:55] that's about $10 a transport,

[31:57] but it all, it all adds up. Yeah.

[32:00] Is there any way that we can collect any more

[32:06] without suing the people that,

[32:10] Not, not that I'm aware of that, that I can think

[32:14] of without Yeah.

[32:16] Dragging 'em through the ringer and Yeah.

[32:18] The only one you can actually follow up on is that 22%.

[32:20] Right? Yeah. That's the, that's the only group of payers

[32:22] that you could follow up on and,

[32:23] and even like, you know, suggest that

[32:25] Yeah.

[32:27] Don't have insurance. You don't have

[32:29] Total of 24% between the self pays

[32:31] and the commercial insurances. Yeah.

[32:33] Green and orange. They're all,

[32:34] you're gonna get more out of

[32:36] and that's the number that keeps shrinking.

[32:39] That number of insurance

[32:41] and self pays are the one that keeps shrinking

[32:43] and the Medicare medicaid keeps increasing.

[32:45] A percentage of that keeps increasing.

[32:47] Yeah. And self pay, even if they pay half of

[32:49] what we charge them, that's more than Medicaid would pay.

[32:51] Yeah. It's not even worth going after anything. Yeah.

[32:56] But if I'm, so what about the,

[32:58] and annually if you were looking at that you'd,

[33:00] if we raised our rates annually to like with the insurance

[33:04] then do we get to a point where we're just like,

[33:07] those fees get to those astronomical levels?

[33:09] Or would it be so slow that it wouldn't,

[33:11] I think with where our numbers are at, so,

[33:14] and using that like 325% threshold.

[33:18] 'cause I know there is legislation in other states

[33:20] that yeah, that mandate that at a 30% increase

[33:24] that would put us at 270% of Medicare.

[33:28] So in theory if Medicare's going up by a similar percentage,

[33:32] we would always should be around that 270%.

[33:36] So we just always be following them at this point.

[33:38] If we just do the 30 right now

[33:39] It Yeah.

[33:40] At that, at that point I do think that the, you know, the,

[33:43] the annual inflation adjustment, that that doesn't mean

[33:47] that we still wouldn't look at it every, every few years

[33:49] and make sure that hey our, do it more

[33:52] of a deep dive analysis like this to say, Hey is this,

[33:55] is this still tracking or do we need to look at another bump

[33:58] or, or anything like that.

[34:00] Lot of times it's a lot easier to go each year

[34:04] you still try to do a major bump

[34:06] 'cause you're back got behind you.

[34:08] The people aren't gonna pay, aren't gonna pay their,

[34:10] don't increase anything or increase it by 50%,

[34:13] but just, it's not gonna happen.

[34:15] Yep. I don't think it's an unreasonable proposal though

[34:18] to propose that percentage increase annually and then try

[34:21] and like we've done to do maybe a,

[34:23] a bigger percentage bump if we're that far behind.

[34:25] Yeah. Or if legislation's allowing for that

[34:27] to extra recoup than we can up there.

[34:30] But Yeah.

[34:33] Under the patient and self pay,

[34:35] do we ever have anybody that does not?

[34:38] Do we have like a collection or where do we put that?

[34:44] Who pays in? Do we just write that off? Yep.

[34:47] So so ultimately that eventually gets written off.

[34:52] Taxpayers basically pay for it.

[34:53] Yeah. By time you go

[34:55] after 'em for collections you spent more money

[34:57] trying to collect the money.

[34:58] It's negative at the end anyway.

[35:01] Yeah, that one question for Dino that John

[35:06] and I were talking about, would we,

[35:09] for a resolution in the future, do you know,

[35:11] would we be able to put that ambulance inflation factor into

[35:15] that fee schedule built in?

[35:16] Or is that something we'd have to go to the board to

[35:18] on an annual basis

[35:20] after they release that ambulance inflation factor?

[35:27] You know, I, in theory you could put

[35:29] an escalator in there.

[35:32] I think it's kind of more a question of transparency

[35:37] to the community on what you're doing.

[35:40] If you're comfortable with one resolution

[35:42] that puts an escalator in there,

[35:44] then legally I think you could do it.

[35:48] Okay. Or if we wanted to worry about transparency,

[35:51] just like tag that agenda where we would do that

[35:54] after those numbers come out.

[35:55] Because when, when did those come out? Second quarter.

[35:58] Yeah. Yeah.

[36:00] 'cause I think it's the start of their fiscal year when

[36:01] they update it all, so,

[36:03] So it might be our third quarter then.

[36:06] Yeah. By that time.

[36:07] But we could still just put a note on there just as a,

[36:10] these rates changed here

[36:11] and prior resolution, now we're at this level, whatever.

[36:14] Just a brief statement would be helpful

[36:15] for transparency like Dino mentioned for

[36:17] Sure.

[36:18] If, if we're gonna do an escalator clause,

[36:20] then we should tie it, what I typically tie it

[36:23] to is the Denver, Aurora, Lakewood CPI that's issued

[36:28] by the US Labor statistics.

[36:31] What labor statistics, what division?

[36:36] That's kind of the local CPI index.

[36:40] That's typically all that sort.

[36:43] You'll wanna tie it to something

[36:44] so you have a basis for the,

[36:47] Well do you know what the Medicare ambulance inflation

[36:50] factor work that's official?

[36:52] Like, or is that just a hypothetical number?

[36:56] You know, I'm not familiar with Medicare's adjustments

[37:00] so I can't, can't say whether that's a good one to look to,

[37:03] but it, it may very well work as well.

[37:07] Yeah, maybe present both. Yeah.

[37:09] If that one is accurate,

[37:10] then at least we'll be keeping in touch.

[37:11] I don't, I don't, I mean the take

[37:13] Off so I can try to make It to price.

[37:15] It might be a little lower CPI for Colorado. Yeah. To them.

[37:22] I don't know how often they do it,

[37:24] whether it's an annual adjuster, do you know?

[37:28] Yeah. It's an annual adjustment that they do on that

[37:31] For Medicare.

[37:32] Yeah. Bye guys.

[37:35] Now if that's something that's available you're comfortable

[37:39] with, yeah.

[37:41] If you could put it in the resolution,

[37:43] you may wanna also put it on your fee schedule so

[37:46] that it's obvious.

[37:48] Okay. People there are looking at it

[37:49] that this is an annual adjustment that's gonna occur.

[37:54] Perfect. Can't believe

[37:57] that was three years ago when we talked about this the first

[37:59] time before technically.

[38:00] And that we did talk about that 20% and it's, it's crazy.

[38:05] Doesn't seem like that long ago

[38:06] that we just made the increase

[38:08] and here we are bringing it back.

[38:10] I know when he said 22 and it was like 22.

[38:12] I thought we just did that, but

[38:13] Yeah, We did not just do that.

[38:15] Yep. Okay. Any other questions regarding this issue?

[38:21] Alright, we go on to item C under new business review

[38:26] of various vendors for financial, for financial software.

[38:28] I imagine that's you John, huh?

[38:30] We will, I'll, I'll start us off here.

[38:32] So John's been working hard on this along

[38:36] with PJ in the background.

[38:37] As we look at this, I know we,

[38:39] we've mentioned it in our last board report,

[38:41] but John's been doing the vast majority

[38:43] of looking at these softwares and, and he

[38:45] and PJ have been having conversations.

[38:47] Again, we're not bringing this to the board

[38:49] of directors asking for any decision tonight.

[38:52] It's just something to review

[38:54] and to be able to ask questions

[38:56] and to see if there's anything else you would like

[38:58] to see out of what we're presenting.

[39:01] So John,

[39:03] So what we're doing is we're looking at

[39:06] replacing QuickBooks.

[39:07] We've been using QuickBooks since, since Rifle Fire

[39:11] and Burning Mountains Fire Times 20 years.

[39:15] QuickBooks is a great program for small business,

[39:20] one or two people needing access to it and everything.

[39:24] As we've grown, it's just gotten more

[39:26] and more cumbersome to deal with, to deal

[39:29] with different pieces of it.

[39:33] So we're looking at, looking at what the possibilities are

[39:36] for us to replace that and streamline some of our processes.

[39:41] We figure we probably wait, we probably, I won't say waste,

[39:44] but we probably spend between 500

[39:47] and 800 hours a year doing budgeting

[39:51] throughout the hallway

[39:52] and everything with Division Chiefs putting in their

[39:55] numbers, PJ

[39:57] and Chief Sackett putting in their numbers and everything.

[40:01] And it, during that period of time every month as our,

[40:06] as our financials change, that has to be downloaded

[40:10] into the spreadsheets and brought up

[40:12] and everything changes all the time there

[40:16] doing multiple budget scenarios.

[40:19] Each one of 'em has to be carefully moved forward.

[40:25] So we started looking this year at some different options

[40:28] for software.

[40:31] OpenGov was the first one we looked at.

[40:37] They, they've got a, their,

[40:39] their government software that that's what they do.

[40:43] SAP does government as well as Tyler.

[40:47] Tyler Technologies. They all do government software.

[40:50] That's their forte.

[40:52] As p as we put in here, one of the problems

[40:55] with QuickBooks is it's designed as a generic thing.

[40:59] So some of that stuff, PJ has

[41:01] to go in every month on the board reports

[41:04] and change headings and everything

[41:06] because it's not really profit and loss for government.

[41:10] We don't, we operate at a loss.

[41:13] We, we get tax dollars to cover that.

[41:15] So there's a lot of little things there that,

[41:17] that don't, don't happen.

[41:19] So right now, currently we're paying about

[41:23] 7,000 a year for QuickBooks for us to expand so

[41:28] that everyone in the hallway could have access to view that

[41:31] and have real time access would be about another

[41:34] $9,000 a year.

[41:36] Bringing us up to about 15,000, 16,000 a year

[41:40] for that access.

[41:42] OpenGov came in with a 40,000 a year for their software

[41:47] and a $70,000 implementation fee.

[41:50] Why are they so much higher than everybody else?

[41:53] Well, that, that's actually lower.

[41:55] Oh, is it It it was significantly higher

[41:58] Than time.

[41:59] It was, the implementation fee was 118,000. Yeah.

[42:02] So Yeah, we almost stopped the process at that point.

[42:05] Yeah. But we continued on with SAP,

[42:10] we looked at their, their stuff.

[42:12] They've got a $28,000 implementation fee

[42:16] and 26,000 per year.

[42:18] That does not include an HR module.

[42:21] And that's one of the things we'll never have in

[42:23] in QuickBooks is we'll never have an HR module there.

[42:28] And then Tyler Technologies, we looked at theirs,

[42:31] theirs is 19,000 a year

[42:34] and it includes an HR module.

[42:36] So we can, we can track the person from the time they submit

[42:40] their application all the way through the process

[42:43] until they retire or leave the

[42:45] organization. So we can track

[42:47] Annually that 69,000.

[42:50] Hmm. That 6,900

[42:52] That, and that piece is a $6,900 annually. Annually.

[42:56] Like when with whatever

[42:57] Yeah.

[42:58] Which is included in that 19, that's included in

[43:00] that $19,000.

[43:05] So I, I just separated that out

[43:07] because like I said, SAP did not have

[43:09] that in there at the time.

[43:12] Tyler's implementation fee is twice out of SAPs.

[43:16] What Are the implementation fees? Like?

[43:18] What are those, what does that include?

[43:20] Is it just training for all setting

[43:21] Users, setting, setting up the, the cloud-based server,

[43:26] populating it, and then doing training. So

[43:31] Populating all of our account numbers Yeah.

[43:33] And titles and pulling all of that stuff. Yeah.

[43:39] So I know that

[43:43] Tyler has figured into that 256 hours of training,

[43:48] which I think is a little, a little heavy

[43:52] considering, considering what we've gotten.

[43:55] And that's gonna be one of the things we're gonna talk

[43:57] and discuss with them yet.

[43:58] But these are, this is the first round of numbers

[44:01] that we've gotten from the vendors.

[44:07] Each of the, each of the proposed software packages has a,

[44:10] has an annual cost increase built into the contract of

[44:13] between three and 6%.

[44:16] I think OpenGov was 3%

[44:19] and SAP was, i, I can't remember exactly,

[44:24] but SAP was like 6%.

[44:27] Tyler was 5% or, or vice versa there.

[44:30] So they've each got an annual

[44:33] increase in the cost of the software.

[44:38] So all we're looking for from, from the board tonight is

[44:45] any questions you guys have?

[44:46] Anything you wanna see us bring back? Next meeting?

[44:50] Next meeting. We're gonna be getting close to, close

[44:53] to needing to sign a contract with one of these to, just so

[44:57] that we've got it all online and everything for January 1st.

[45:00] We won't be able to do any of the budget process this year

[45:04] with this software just

[45:05] because we, it won't be set up,

[45:07] we won't have a year's worth of data in it.

[45:10] But then we start January 1st, next year,

[45:16] we we're able to then have

[45:18] that information in there into the budgeting part

[45:22] of their package by September and going forth. Which one,

[45:26] Which one of you and PJ have been most impressed with

[45:28] so far as far as you able to work with the system?

[45:33] We, we've got some questions on both SAP and Tyler.

[45:37] I think right now we've put OpenGov on the back burner.

[45:41] Think so, just,

[45:45] just kind of that sticker shock.

[45:49] But we're, we're still working on, we've, we've got a list

[45:52] of some things that we definitely need to see.

[45:55] We've kinda had a little bit

[45:56] of a problem getting time together to see this stuff,

[45:59] but either one of 'em I think is gonna do the,

[46:03] do the job for us

[46:06] When it comes time.

[46:07] I think if, you know, if you guys would give us a

[46:08] recommendation, who do you feel would be the best option?

[46:11] Oh, we'll, we'll definitely give you

[46:13] what we feel is our best option,

[46:14] but we're just wanting to, wanting

[46:16] to know if there's anything that you guys need from us if

[46:22] This is different than the budgeting software

[46:24] or program that you guys were talking

[46:25] about previously? Or is this the same?

[46:27] No, this is, this is what we're talking about.

[46:28] This has it built, this has the budgeting software built in

[46:32] QuickBook, QuickBooks has budgeting software built in.

[46:35] But again, it's designed for a business that

[46:42] Isn't, isn't trying to project medical billing costs

[46:46] or medical billing income.

[46:48] Yeah. Taxes and everything else.

[46:50] It, it's more of a, that structured approach.

[46:53] Whereas these take into account their,

[46:56] and we can, we can work with each individual section of it.

[47:00] Yeah. Plus the other thing we can do with this is we can,

[47:04] we can track different programs.

[47:06] So like if we buy software, it all goes under IT

[47:10] software budget this year.

[47:11] Yeah. In the future with, with a more robust system,

[47:14] we can say, okay, well we've got this software for

[47:18] fleet maintenance, we've got this software for training,

[47:21] we've got this software for operations

[47:23] and we can break that out

[47:25] and we can look at those costs

[47:26] of each program a little better as well.

[47:32] Would it be possible to kind of just do some math

[47:34] and for like, it may not be completely accurate,

[47:37] but you know, QuickBooks is maybe not the best

[47:39] for EMS and fire.

[47:40] That makes sense. But like how much time on task it's,

[47:43] you know, eating up so you know, the smaller, you know,

[47:48] $15,000 cost.

[47:49] But maybe if it's, you know, people are adding, you know,

[47:52] 200 additional hours or however many hours to make it work

[47:55] and get the information versus maybe, you know, once you

[47:58] and PJ get a chance to look at it closer

[48:00] if the other two options don't require all

[48:02] that extra time on task.

[48:04] Well that, and that's what, like we say,

[48:06] that's why we're looking at looking at this is to try to try

[48:09] to shrink down that, that budget process time.

[48:13] Yeah. Maybe if you can come up with just like an estimate

[48:15] of what you, you know, QuickBooks is costing us outside

[48:18] of just the software fees and all the user fees.

[48:21] Yeah, that would be interesting.

[48:25] And unless OpenGov just like does everything

[48:28] one button, I don't know if it's worth it,

[48:31] Like if there's a catch meow of what we would look for.

[48:36] Yes. But, so

[48:37] It's like pul, I just, dang it, I have a hard time with

[48:42] that when the annual costs

[48:45] of the software are doubled, what the other two are.

[48:48] Well if it's costing us $20,000 in extra, you know,

[48:50] person hours annually for QuickBooks.

[48:52] Yeah. At the end of the day it's a wash

[48:56] Tyler and SAP would be saving.

[48:57] So I agree. But yeah, that's it.

[49:02] Questions. Okay. I

[49:03] have any questions for John?

[49:09] I have a couple questions. Go for it. Paige.

[49:15] Right now how many users do we have

[49:18] that have access to QuickBooks?

[49:21] Two internally and two externally.

[49:24] So we've got PJ and Courtney have access to it internally

[49:29] and then Christina and at GBO Consulting

[49:35] and one of her employees have, have access to it

[49:39] to go through

[49:41] and do, do a mandatory G

[49:46] pardon me, mandatory GL entries help us with getting

[49:49] that data down from QuickBooks into those, into

[49:54] that spreadsheet and everything.

[49:56] So how many, how many total users under any

[50:01] of these three proposed new

[50:04] softwares would you be proposing would have access

[50:07] to our financials

[50:09] Under the ty, under Tyler or SAP?

[50:15] Full access to our financials would be,

[50:17] would be the two to four.

[50:20] Whether it again PJ

[50:23] and Courtney as well as we'll probably have that

[50:29] third person overlooking the stuff

[50:31] because of all the complexities of the EMS billing

[50:34] and everything for bringing those journal entries in

[50:36] for EMS billing and payroll.

[50:40] Those would have full access.

[50:42] There would probably be five to six that would have

[50:47] read only access.

[50:49] Myself, chief, chief Buggati where we can go in

[50:53] and say where am I at with my budget this year

[50:56] so far up to date.

[50:59] And then some of the other features

[51:01] that we haven't looked at yet

[51:04] that would give people access to this software.

[51:09] They've got a whole PO process.

[51:11] So we may have, we may have lieutenants set up

[51:15] where they can in input a PO that

[51:19] then has everything itemized out

[51:22] where it's gonna be charged to.

[51:24] If it's over their spending limit, it rolls up

[51:26] to their bc If it's over the BC spending limit, it rolls up

[51:29] to division chief or fire chief for approval.

[51:35] We don't know whether we're gonna use how much of

[51:37] that we would use or not.

[51:41] So I can't, I can't say how many

[51:43] of those people we would have doing the

[51:46] down at the PO level.

[51:47] But like I say it, it'd still be limited to

[51:51] the administrative staff, the higher,

[51:54] higher administrative staff that would be. So

[51:58] My, what my ask is, is I am,

[52:03] I'm, I'm not trying to say

[52:06] that a new software isn't needed,

[52:09] but at first glance the numbers just don't make sense

[52:15] for what I'm hearing we need this for.

[52:18] And so I guess what my ask is is that

[52:22] at the next board meeting, there's just a much more

[52:27] substantiated presentation

[52:31] because when I'm looking at this we're,

[52:36] because it is my total annual, total annual with nine users

[52:41] for QuickBooks at 15,800,

[52:43] what I'm hearing is we don't actually have

[52:46] nine users right now.

[52:48] So, and I guess I'm just very concerned at

[52:52] how many people would have access.

[52:57] I would think that for this additional cost, especially

[53:02] with ai, that once we build the the budget once

[53:07] it would be incredibly easy.

[53:10] You know, probably not on first try,

[53:12] but it would be very easy

[53:14] to run different scenarios once it's built out on the

[53:17] first try.

[53:18] So I'm not saying no,

[53:20] and I'm certainly not trying to say that I understand

[53:24] your process, but just if this was private sector,

[53:29] the vote would be a no.

[53:31] It, it just, I wouldn't have enough information right now

[53:35] to say that this makes sense.

[53:38] So my ask would be that at the next board meeting

[53:42] that there's just a, a better way to quantify

[53:46] as I believe Addie said, just what, what the man hours are

[53:50] that we're actually trying to achieve it.

[53:54] It just, it seems like we've got some missing pieces there.

[53:57] Yeah. And, and and I understand that

[53:59] and that that's why we wanted to present this right now to,

[54:03] to get people thinking about it so that we knew

[54:05] what, where we needed to go.

[54:06] And that was one of the things we were, we've been waiting

[54:09] to see a budget presentation on these, these pieces

[54:12] of software to make sure that we're in that, oh hey,

[54:17] it's not gonna be five to 800 hours, it's gonna be two

[54:21] to 300 hours a year or

[54:24] Yeah, Yeah.

[54:27] Yep. No, that, that makes total sense.

[54:30] And I could totally appreciate efficiencies

[54:33] and I could totally appreciate being able to track

[54:36] throughout the budget year.

[54:39] And so, you know, just if we could have

[54:41] that quantified maybe a little bit better, I, I think

[54:44] that would help the board better understand

[54:47] how we would be using this ask

[54:50] to really help move the department forward.

[54:55] Perfect. Okay. You can do that page,

[54:58] Not a problem. Okay.

[55:00] Thank, thank you so much.

[55:03] Any questions for John? Thank you John.

[55:06] We're gonna move on then we're gonna go on to

[55:13] old business item seven on the agenda

[55:16] station 61 progress update.

[55:18] Yeah, so it's, it's ongoing

[55:21] with Station 61 since our last board meeting,

[55:24] the full permitting process has been completed.

[55:26] And so we're, we're happy that that, that that happened

[55:31] currently since the last board meeting,

[55:33] the full building slat has success.

[55:35] We've been placed in

[55:38] and completing all the major concrete work.

[55:41] And then the next part of the process upcoming will be

[55:48] starting that still erection process

[55:51] be happening over the month of September

[55:54] and October for that.

[55:56] I think you said you were there

[55:58] and some of the block work is already there.

[56:00] Some blocks for the, for the hose are in the,

[56:03] in the elevator.

[56:05] Are are there. So I haven't driven by in, in,

[56:09] in over a week so haven't really seen it

[56:12] but if you look at the pictures John, you wanna scroll down

[56:15] and at this point the from from Wimber the project is

[56:20] healthy in the stage and budget is is on point for

[56:24] where we're supposed to be at.

[56:26] But this is part of that process of

[56:28] that slab pouring last month.

[56:30] There wasn't, there was just the foundation

[56:32] and the stem walls that were were poured in there.

[56:35] And if you keep going down John, keep scrolling down

[56:37] through there you see all the

[56:39] different work that has happened.

[56:40] This actually happened

[56:42] that slab war happened last week is when that happened.

[56:46] So it's, I guess starting from my standpoint, it looks like

[56:51] we're making some very good progress.

[56:55] Do we know how, where we are on timeline?

[56:57] Yeah. So as of well currently no

[57:00] because I wasn't at the last OAC OAC meeting

[57:04] but I know we were behind by,

[57:06] with the inspection schedule we were behind

[57:09] by about 12 days at the last, at the last meeting.

[57:13] We have since had some, some conversations on what

[57:17] that looks like to get that back up

[57:19] and I think we're, we're headed in the right direction.

[57:22] Are you getting any more progress outta

[57:24] inspections or is that still

[57:26] That's those are those conversations that are ongoing

[57:28] as we As we talk. As we speak, yeah.

[57:31] Yeah. That's interesting 'cause that's something I've

[57:32] heard through the grapevine outside of any of us

[57:35] that there's been quite a few delays like up to three weeks,

[57:39] which I guess 12 working days could be three

[57:41] weeks because of that. Yes. That's

[57:43] Been happening for years too.

[57:44] Well yes I know but it's just very frustrating.

[57:47] It is Very frustrating.

[57:50] I just can't believe they didn't invite us

[57:51] to sign our names in the concrete

[57:54] Or wise Feel confident

[57:57] that we're on the right road Yes.

[57:59] To get that corrected. Yep.

[58:01] That's good. Okay, we're gonna move on then.

[58:05] Go on Item eight agenda, the quarterly grant tracker update.

[58:09] So we do, that's quarterly so that next will be November.

[58:14] Okay. That's not in this board meeting. Alright,

[58:16] That asks court.

[58:18] Okay, makes sense.

[58:20] Then we'll move on to item nine division reports.

[58:22] So we'll stop, stop start with ENS and special services.

[58:26] I don't see Chief

[58:27] Buggati here. Does somebody else like to give that?

[58:28] Yeah, he is deployed at this point.

[58:32] You can see there in his report.

[58:34] There's been a lot going on across the board.

[58:38] You can see how much we bill for Wildland

[58:41] Roberts was qualified as a task force leader

[58:44] and can supervise multiple resources,

[58:47] multiple resource types on fires.

[58:49] Hunter Finger qualified it as an engine boss supervised two

[58:53] to six personnel on wildlife fire

[58:54] and be qualified as a crew boss.

[58:57] Able to supervise five to 25 personnel on fire.

[59:00] So I'm glad to see that all

[59:03] of them have been busy and have been deployed.

[59:05] The WFM actually just got back from the,

[59:08] the Gold Mountain fire in Colorado

[59:10] and then you can see that fleet has been very busy as well.

[59:13] They've actually done a really good job

[59:15] of getting some apparatus back in service that we've had

[59:17] to go down and get it back in service in a timely manner.

[59:21] And then again Eric, he is starting his fall schedule

[59:26] for everything that he does across all of our stations.

[59:31] So he's been very busy as well.

[59:35] Any question for Chief Gotti's report?

[59:39] Eric, again, we'll go on. Go on to operations. EMS Chief.

[59:45] Yeah, thank you. I mean, crews continue

[59:48] to knock it out out of the park as we,

[59:49] we don't expect anything less of them anymore.

[59:52] We continue to to see the call volumes.

[59:55] Luckily we did have a little bit

[59:56] of rain over the last few weeks so

[59:58] that has helped a little bit with that.

[1:00:00] It doesn't mean that we don't still see some of those fires

[1:00:02] or, and stuff like that,

[1:00:04] but they, they continue to show the resolve

[1:00:07] and perform exceptionally well, making sure

[1:00:09] that they're taking care of our community for us.

[1:00:11] So kudos to them for all

[1:00:13] of their hard work and their dedication.

[1:00:14] As chief talked about in his board report,

[1:00:17] chief Carroll has resigned with CRFR, moving on to

[1:00:21] the training division chief position with Aspen Fire

[1:00:23] and her contributions over the past 10 years have helped

[1:00:28] shape CRFR as we know it today.

[1:00:30] And she's definitely less left in lasting impact on this

[1:00:33] organization and we wish her the best of luck with that.

[1:00:39] Acting battalion Chief Carlson engineer Lister,

[1:00:41] they have been extremely involved in the academy planning

[1:00:45] and instructional process from from the get go with that.

[1:00:48] And so in an effort to decrease disruption from the

[1:00:53] recruit academy, we're gonna pass those

[1:00:55] responsibilities onto them.

[1:00:56] They've graciously accepted, accepted that challenge

[1:01:01] and we're thankful for those two individuals for stepping up

[1:01:03] and can, can continue and, and produce some great recruits.

[1:01:08] Those guys are just started their fourth week today.

[1:01:11] They're out doing some SCBA confidence stuff out in the

[1:01:14] modular behind you guys and they're knocking it outta the

[1:01:17] park and I mean just the progression

[1:01:19] that we're seeing even from a morning session

[1:01:20] to an afternoon session is awesome.

[1:01:22] Super excited to see those individuals get online here.

[1:01:28] The end of November, November 20th will be the

[1:01:30] graduation ceremony that afternoon.

[1:01:32] It's a Friday, so we'll definitely put

[1:01:35] that on your guys' radar for the next couple

[1:01:37] of board meetings as well.

[1:01:38] So love to see you guys there for

[1:01:39] that. Any questions for me?

[1:01:43] Thinking, I was thinking you were gonna give us a report

[1:01:45] on hose hose nozzle technology tonight.

[1:01:49] Well, that, that, that is Cody's baby.

[1:01:52] He, he loves the hoses and appliances and all that stuff

[1:01:56] and man he's, he, he knows that stuff inside and out.

[1:02:00] So they use this room as part of academy

[1:02:02] and so that's part of the setup here.

[1:02:04] You can see some of the, the boards

[1:02:06] and stuff with the classroom rules

[1:02:07] and each recruit has their own sandbag for, for when they do

[1:02:12] different, different workouts or march

[1:02:14] or anything along those lines.

[1:02:15] So a lot of this room has been set up for, for the academy

[1:02:18] And that's some of the stuff that you're seeing in here.

[1:02:20] What's the reason for the home plate?

[1:02:24] So that's, you wanna explain that?

[1:02:27] Sure. Or you want me, want

[1:02:28] Me to, so the home plate is there,

[1:02:31] there's a whole essay on it about how

[1:02:33] the home plate is always 17 inches.

[1:02:35] It doesn't matter if you're little league

[1:02:38] or playing in majors, it's always 17 inches.

[1:02:41] So on day one we gave them a home plate

[1:02:45] and they have to keep it with them at all times.

[1:02:47] And the rule is that they can never change the standard.

[1:02:51] It's always gonna be 17 inches.

[1:02:53] So there's a whole lot more to it for that

[1:02:55] Sure is, I saw the last time you had the home

[1:02:58] plate on the patch.

[1:03:00] Yeah. And we're actually gonna do that this, this week

[1:03:03] or they've got some time on Friday

[1:03:04] that they're gonna be painting their home plate

[1:03:07] and they've been working on the design for it.

[1:03:09] Nice. Yeah, I still have the challenge coin for that,

[1:03:13] but it is an annoying shape.

[1:03:15] It's a very, It's

[1:03:18] An shape that weighs 25 pounds

[1:03:20] and I try to steal it all the time. It's very difficult.

[1:03:23] I believe it. It's always the very It's a conversation

[1:03:27] starter though when you pull out your coins.

[1:03:29] Where'd you get that one exclusive? We

[1:03:32] Got some.

[1:03:33] Those points do mean a lot. Thank you.

[1:03:37] Okay, we're gonna go on to Prevention Chief.

[1:03:44] Not a lot happened.

[1:03:46] I mean we've been working hard

[1:03:47] but there's not a lot of new stuff coming up this month.

[1:03:52] I've been working with Garfield County to

[1:03:57] politically correctly say that we're helping the,

[1:04:03] the Liberty School to help fix some safety

[1:04:07] concerns that they have.

[1:04:10] And so they're in the process

[1:04:12] of doing a remodel probably next summer.

[1:04:16] And so we got them convinced that they need

[1:04:19] to put a good working fire alarm in school

[1:04:22] and so they did that.

[1:04:24] And so the last couple weeks we've been working

[1:04:26] with them to get that done.

[1:04:28] So we now have a new working fire alarm in school when

[1:04:31] they, when they started school.

[1:04:33] 'cause they didn't have one basically before. Are they,

[1:04:37] Are they in the old Newcastle school

[1:04:38] Building?

[1:04:39] They are in the, what was called the Newcastle Mall.

[1:04:43] It's actually the Apple Tree Mall, sorry. Oh, that one.

[1:04:46] Apple Tree Mall. Yeah. And so they were in there.

[1:04:50] That's the majority of the rooms

[1:04:52] and they have another building

[1:04:53] that they have some kindergarten rooms in.

[1:04:56] So like I said, we're working with them to get

[1:04:58] that cleaned up and make it safer for those kids.

[1:05:02] That's been a goal of mine since I've came here from Aspen.

[1:05:07] And so we're finally getting there.

[1:05:09] So that's, I might be able to mark that one off

[1:05:11] of my bucket list one of these days.

[1:05:13] But anyhow, so that is moving forward.

[1:05:16] They are gonna remodel next year

[1:05:17] and the building will be a sprinkler system

[1:05:20] and upgrades to safety in the hallways and things like that.

[1:05:24] So we're working towards that.

[1:05:26] So that's, that's a good thing.

[1:05:30] Other than that, we've been working

[1:05:32] throughout the county last, last week

[1:05:35] actually lowered the burn restrictions

[1:05:37] to stage one instead of being in stage two.

[1:05:40] We've been in stage two for almost two months now,

[1:05:43] which is quite a while for us around here.

[1:05:46] So the fuel moistures are, have not gotten

[1:05:50] or gotten wetter, so they're still pretty dry out there.

[1:05:54] But everything else is kind of changing.

[1:05:56] The evenings are cooler, the humidity is staying up higher,

[1:06:00] so things are a little safer right now.

[1:06:02] So we're gonna monitor what's

[1:06:04] going on for the next couple weeks.

[1:06:05] A little of rain, which is incredible.

[1:06:07] Yeah, the rain was absolutely fabulous.

[1:06:10] So we're monitoring that to see what happens.

[1:06:13] We've already had calls for people wanting

[1:06:15] to activate their burn permits

[1:06:17] and we're not issuing any burn permits until we get out

[1:06:20] of stage one anyhow.

[1:06:22] So normally we start after Labor Day,

[1:06:25] but not now we're waiting.

[1:06:28] Okay. So that's where we're at with that.

[1:06:32] And then just some things been going on.

[1:06:34] We were at Hayday sealed hay days a couple weeks ago

[1:06:39] and had a great, great showing there.

[1:06:41] And we are doing Burning Mountain days this weekend

[1:06:45] and then we have our open house coming

[1:06:47] up the following weekend.

[1:06:49] So a lot of things happening this month

[1:06:51] around here, especially in September.

[1:06:55] I liked the chief video for our open house.

[1:06:57] That was pretty good. That was all

[1:07:00] Kevin Atkins, you did a great job.

[1:07:02] You did. That's really well done.

[1:07:05] That's all I have unless you have some questions for me.

[1:07:07] Questions for Chief Moon? Thank you Lauren.

[1:07:12] Okay, we're gonna go on to it. And Data John.

[1:07:17] Lot of stuff with changing access to programs.

[1:07:22] Lexipol iss doing a whole new update on their system,

[1:07:24] so it's gonna be a new, new design for everybody.

[1:07:29] Do some work on the access we do there.

[1:07:31] Trying to streamline our access with Vector Solutions

[1:07:36] so that it's using the same username and password as email

[1:07:40] and Lexipol and everything.

[1:07:43] Trying to get that so that we've, rather than having

[1:07:46] 20 passwords, usernames

[1:07:48] and passwords, we only have to have 19.

[1:07:52] No. Trying to get that.

[1:07:54] That's evident in how much time it takes

[1:07:56] to set up a new user.

[1:07:59] And that's what I did a lot of the last month.

[1:08:01] Just getting all the new people

[1:08:04] for the academy set up in all the different places

[1:08:06] where they had to be set up.

[1:08:09] Other than that, any questions

[1:08:12] Mr.

[1:08:13] For John? Okay, thanks John.

[1:08:17] No, see PJ here. Who wants to do finance?

[1:08:19] So yeah, she actually, it's in there where she's going.

[1:08:22] She's on her way to the Grasshopper.

[1:08:25] Austin Narrows complex fire. You

[1:08:27] Getting deployed too, huh?

[1:08:28] Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's

[1:08:29] where she's headed to right now.

[1:08:30] Trying to get to Where is that to, it's in Nevada. Okay.

[1:08:34] So she's trying to get to Green River by tonight

[1:08:37] 'cause she can't pa travel past 10 o'clock

[1:08:40] so she can have a less travel day tomorrow.

[1:08:44] But you can see some of the stuff she's been doing

[1:08:47] over the past month.

[1:08:48] I, I know her and administrative

[1:08:50] support assistant Valencia did a lot

[1:08:53] of time at the beginning of the academy getting people

[1:08:55] entered and going over all

[1:08:57] the benefits and everything like that.

[1:08:58] So Courtney did a great job with making that happen

[1:09:01] with all of the recruits.

[1:09:03] And, and Courtney has also been working on updating

[1:09:07] our apparatus and license plates with Garfield County

[1:09:10] and that turned into a, a project is it fair

[1:09:13] to say a project in and of itself?

[1:09:16] Yeah. So they've all been very busy

[1:09:19] and we appreciate everything they've done.

[1:09:21] Any questions on PJ's report

[1:09:24] Questions?

[1:09:26] Thank you Chief. Alright,

[1:09:31] we'll go on to local

[1:09:32] 49 51. Who's gonna present that?

[1:09:37] Thank you Ms.

[1:09:39] Bill. Hopefully you can all hear me. Yep.

[1:09:41] Okay. Bill, take a away.

[1:09:44] I, I apologize I couldn't be there and I apologize.

[1:09:46] I did not have the written document sent out

[1:09:48] to the good time.

[1:09:51] Not much has changed on our report.

[1:09:54] GIS project is still waiting for analysis to be assigned

[1:09:59] and John is continuing to work with putting more data in,

[1:10:04] getting a little more streamlined for

[1:10:06] what they need for the project.

[1:10:09] We have, I've collected a little more information on the

[1:10:12] wage study from Eagle River

[1:10:15] and Aspen waiting on a few more pieces there.

[1:10:18] And then that project should be assigned here real soon,

[1:10:23] just being the Labor Day weekend.

[1:10:25] You may have noticed we did not do MDA fill the boot,

[1:10:29] but we are looking for,

[1:10:30] to get the MDA coordinated position filled for 49 51.

[1:10:36] And we have the same sentiment as

[1:10:40] CRFR in losing chief car.

[1:10:44] Mr. Carroll was, has been the secretary for local 49 51

[1:10:49] for the past several years

[1:10:51] and that's gonna be, that's gonna be our goal to fulfill.

[1:10:56] Other than that, do you have any questions for me?

[1:10:58] Any questions for Bill? Thank you, bill. I appreciate it.

[1:11:03] Okay, we'll go on to good news and accomplishments

[1:11:06] Second.

[1:11:07] And that's, that's okay. So I actually took this picture

[1:11:11] today and I wanna

[1:11:12] Bring this up because this happens very,

[1:11:16] very seldom for what we do.

[1:11:21] I was walking down the hallway when this gentleman came in

[1:11:23] and said, Hey, I want to thank you guys for what you do

[1:11:27] and for what you did for me.

[1:11:30] Long story short, he,

[1:11:34] he had a car pull out in front

[1:11:35] of him while he was on a motorcycle on Airport Road

[1:11:38] and one, he's lucky to be alive,

[1:11:42] but he very specifically remembered Robert Fields and,

[1:11:46] and what Robert did for him.

[1:11:48] And as you can see, Robert's a little sweaty.

[1:11:50] I he, he was out working out at the time preparing himself

[1:11:55] for just everything that we do on a regular basis.

[1:11:57] And he came in and it was, it was very emotional for that,

[1:12:01] for that gentleman in this wheelchair to thank Robert

[1:12:03] because he very specifically remembered Robert

[1:12:06] and I wish Robert's on shift tonight

[1:12:08] and I was gonna bring you back in here for this,

[1:12:11] but they're out on a call so we can't,

[1:12:13] but it was, it was super cool to see the conversation.

[1:12:16] One of the guys lucky to be alive,

[1:12:18] but what he remembered the most, other than being

[1:12:21] how much it hurt when he got moved was

[1:12:23] how Robert treated him.

[1:12:25] And so just wanted to recognize him for that

[1:12:27] because it's pretty cool to see

[1:12:29] to stand back and watch that.

[1:12:30] I know Oren's not here right now,

[1:12:32] but it's something you just don't see very often.

[1:12:34] So I wanna recognize him for that

[1:12:35] and his, his treatment of that patient that day.

[1:12:38] So thank you.

[1:12:40] That's awesome. Anything else?

[1:12:45] That's it. Okay, we're gonna go on then

[1:12:47] to board member comments.

[1:12:50] Dick, do you wanna start us off tonight?

[1:12:53] I'm starting my second week of my 90th

[1:12:57] or my ninth decade,

[1:13:00] which I reached week and a half ago.

[1:13:03] I reached the age of nine. Oh happy birthday.

[1:13:05] And I plan to be around for at least two more years

[1:13:08] to give you all hell

[1:13:11] We would expect nothing less.

[1:13:13] Absolutely. Yeah. Oh and children Bera,

[1:13:19] welcome to the we lad from the

[1:13:23] Emal back.

[1:13:26] Yes. Ready?

[1:13:31] I just wanna say thank you as usual. I don't wanna leave

[1:13:33] it on a downer after all that good news and stuff,

[1:13:35] but I don't think it really is gonna

[1:13:38] change much in how you guys do stuff.

[1:13:40] But you, the policy that was included in our board packet

[1:13:42] this week or this month is the 8 0 4.

[1:13:47] Just want to kind of highlight maybe just like if anyone

[1:13:50] reads the minutes, that's that AI is a nice fun tool

[1:13:54] and it's very dangerous when we're talking about patient

[1:13:56] care reports in my opinion.

[1:13:58] So I'd just like to maybe spread the word that

[1:14:02] I would challenge you guys that the amount

[1:14:04] of oversight under the human oversight

[1:14:05] and the acceptable use it would be just as quick

[1:14:08] to write your own report without AI assist in my opinion.

[1:14:14] And I think we're on a dangerous pre, pre precipice

[1:14:17] with the AI component and I know that everyone's going to it

[1:14:20] and it won't make a bean a difference if one Luddite sticks

[1:14:23] out and says, Nope, it's not good stuff.

[1:14:24] But I just would like maybe the word to that's

[1:14:28] please pay attention.

[1:14:31] That stuff is scary and

[1:14:35] It's kind of scary.

[1:14:36] We're not depending on our own thinking anymore, are we?

[1:14:38] No we aren't. That's What's scary about it.

[1:14:40] So it's just that that's, that's kind of what we do.

[1:14:43] That patient care right There also isn't just for that guy

[1:14:45] who came back and said this,

[1:14:46] that it's all the work we do afterwards

[1:14:48] for our patients also.

[1:14:49] And that writing a narrative is kind of like a skill.

[1:14:53] It takes some effort and you have to learn how to do that.

[1:14:55] And I don't know if you've ever done AI emails

[1:14:58] or ai, anything else like that.

[1:14:59] It does not sound like you.

[1:15:01] And there is like a reason why

[1:15:02] we're writing those reports ourselves.

[1:15:03] So the policy concerns me and it's like to voice that here

[1:15:07] and I know that it's probably not gonna change anything

[1:15:09] 'cause everyone's enamored with ai,

[1:15:12] but it's scary. Let's pay attention.

[1:15:17] Thank you Ed Adrian.

[1:15:20] Well I would like to agree with Addie on the ai.

[1:15:24] I am very nervous. Just anything regarding ai,

[1:15:29] I, I'm not sure,

[1:15:32] but I would like to thank everyone for their continued

[1:15:36] dedication, all the reports and time and everything.

[1:15:41] You guys just never cease to amaze me.

[1:15:46] Thank you Adrian. Paige,

[1:15:53] I'm sorry I wasn't able to be there.

[1:15:54] I'm here with my niece.

[1:15:56] I had promised her we would go horseback ride.

[1:16:01] That's awesome. You have a place to do it. Yep.

[1:16:05] Then she cuts Out. Thank you Paige.

[1:16:09] I agree with, with Patty.

[1:16:11] I I think that we're coming to a point where we,

[1:16:13] And talk to you soon.

[1:16:16] Alright. Thank you Paige.

[1:16:18] We're, we're depending on a machine to think for us

[1:16:23] and that that's scary

[1:16:24] and we're losing our individualism with that.

[1:16:28] And so it's, it's something we need to limit.

[1:16:32] I think also wanna plug our

[1:16:36] September 19th open house.

[1:16:39] Usual. It's gonna be full house of people there

[1:16:43] and a lot of things look at, show the community

[1:16:45] what we do and good food.

[1:16:48] And I, I imagine the chiefs gonna be throwing burgers,

[1:16:50] burgers and hot dogs again.

[1:16:52] Something along those lines. Okay.

[1:16:55] I, I plan on helping you out with that. Perfect.

[1:16:57] Thank you. And look forward to seeing everybody there.

[1:17:01] With that, everybody have a good night.

Colorado River Fire Rescue Board of Directors • Sept 8, 2026

Agenda

Transcript